This love tale is really genuine and uplifting. It's a narrative about the difficulties of infertility, but it's also about family dynamics and psychological damage.

You'll want more from this page turner. It's a tale about the capacity to discover love in unexpected places as well as about love, hope, and forgiveness. It is deeply moving and depressing, yet also joyful and inspiring.

It deals with letting up of one desire and pursuing a another one. It's about making an effort to save a failing marriage rather than simply giving up on it. It's about getting back in touch with your loved ones and discovering who you are.

I didn't anticipate enjoying it as much as I do. Received this copy from NetGalley.

This is an amazing story. It’s a story about love, hope, forgiveness and the ability to find love in different places. It is very emotional and sad, but at the same time heartwarming and hopeful. It’s about letting go off a dream and finding a new one. It’s about not just giving up on a struggling marriage, but actually trying to work it out. It’s about reconnection with your loved ones and finding yourself. I didn’t think I would love it as much as I do.

The characters were well written and very reliable. The main character had an amazing development throughout the book.

I can and will definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to read something realistic and heartfelt.
This only reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars was because I felt it was a bit to fast paced. It could have used an extra 100 pages.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing, the author, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
This book was so beautiful, emotional and heart-breakingly realistic.
I felt for every single character and the dilemmas they were going through, especially the MC of course. I loved how the author so accurately portrayed all the difficulties of relationships and all the mistakes the characters made, while making the reader understand their reasons and not be able to judge them for being human.

This is a powerful and moving story about the challenges of infertility and relationship dynamics in modern times. The author does an excellent job of capturing the emotional toll that infertility can take on a couple, both together and individually. Very contemporary...the characters are all well-developed and relatable, and the plot kept me interested.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Niki and Kyle are desperate to have a baby. They have tried multiple IVF procedures with no success. Kyle wants a break but Niki is so desperate that she will try anything to have a baby. So begins the story of secrets, lies and new beginnings. This was a well written story for our modern times 4 stars

A moving portrait of a marriage in crisis, All We Could Still Have is a story of forgiveness, hope, and love. Any couple that has faced fertility issues or longed for a baby to bring home will relate deeply to Nikki and Kyle. Nikki, in particular, is such a relatable character. You feel her desperation and hurt with her as much as you do for her. Despite the heavy subject matter, I came away with a heartwarming feeling of possibility. Things don’t always work out the way we want them to, but that doesn’t mean things can’t still work out. There’s beauty in the unexpected.

This is a very heartwarming and heartfelt love story. A page turner that will keep you wanting more.
It is about a couple who love each other deeply and want a baby so bad. They try IVF until they can't afford it anymore. Then the deception begins. Nikki wants a baby so bad she's willing to put her marriage in jeopardy. Then Kyle betrays her and here we go.

Will they find their way back to each other and can their love be like it was before. Will they have the baby they both wanted so bad.

This is such a good book. Full of love and happy times and sad times. You will have a few emotions reading it. They are a likable couple and you will want them to prevail.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This book is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Not only is it a story of the rigors of infertility, it’s also about family dynamics and emotional trauma.

Nikki wanted a baby more than anything in the world. When she realized that her body could not achieve pregnancy without medical intervention, she was willing to spend whatever it cost to have a baby of her own. Her overwhelming desire to get pregnant nearly cost her her marriage and her sense of self.

I loved Nikki’s character. The author didn’t shy away from letting us see the darker side of Nikki and she did so with compassion and an understanding of the topic of infertility.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading “All We Could Still Have” and I highly recommend it. It will be published on November 7, 2023. Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced copy of this fantastic book.

Nikki and Kyle Sebastian have a loving and healthy marriage. It’s only missing one thing they want—children. When the couple is diagnosed with “unexplained infertility” and endures several failed rounds of IVF, Kyle, for both their sakes, is unwilling to bury them deeper in emotional and financial debt.

Desperate to have a baby, Nikki betrays Kyle’s trust in an attempt to try IVF one more time. The choice fractures their once-stable union. Now burdened with suspicion, resentment, and further grief, their little family is falling apart.

Picking up the pieces of their broken home means reassessing their dreams for the future—dreams that Nikki’s not ready to give up. If she can’t find a way to forge a new path forward with Kyle, she may find herself alone at the end of the family tree she longs to help grow.

I want to preface my review by saying that infertility issues do need have more attention focused on it. Diane Barnes did one hell of a job writing this emotional gutpunching story. I felt all the emotions while reading this story. Will recommend to others.

This was a love story about a couple going through IVF in order to have the longed for child. I her desperation to have a baby, Nikki betrays Kyle,s trust and then Kyle betrays Nikki's trust and things between them fall apart badly.The ensuing story tells of how they both deal with the fall out and how they try to mov3 forward with their lives. I did enjoy this book and found it very moving but found it a bit predictable and the ending was no surprise.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book.

This is quite a contemporary book and covers a topic which is heart breaking but often a social taboo, so not discussed and normalised. Nikki is undergoing her third round of IVF and this time she feels, is going to be it. She is desperate for a baby and is shocked when her husband tells her he has had enough. If the treatment doesn't work he doesn't want to try again. Nikki is astounded and struggles to see her husbands perspective. She feels that the financial and emotional pressure far outweigh remaining childless. Kyle, however, feels that being a couple is more important than all the trauma and pain he sees in his wife every time the treatment fails.
The book explores the emotional rollercoaster of infertility, trust and compromise. There were moments when I felt teary and emotional myself, so this book could be triggering for some people if this hits close to home. It is however, a topic that needs to be more mainstream to normalise the pain and emotion tied up in fertility issues.
Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

The despair of not being able to conceive runs through the heart of this novel, forcing Nikki to re-address friendships and relationships. The story takes pace as it goes on with an unexpected twist to Nikki's pain that raises the stakes. Sensitivity written about a subject that will resonate with many readers.

The book starts with the couple struggling with IVF, and while these first few chapters were difficult to read due to emotional heaviness of characters mental state, the book takes a turn in a direction where the main focus becomes a relationship with partner, friends and family. What triggered this turn of event was questionable financial decision FMC made about her money. Her money, I can’t stress this enough. This sets a chain of events that forces characters to evaluate their lives and values.

In theory topics like this are my cup of tea. In practice, this book was filled with women shaming and making women responsible for dumb poo men in their lives did. With friends and family like these who needs enemies? Our FMC definitely not.

Thank You @netgalley and @amazonpublishing for this ARC!

First time reader of Diane Barnes, took a while to get into, kept putting it down, but then picking it up and giving it another go, re-read a few chapters to get back into the story flow, well worth hanging in for, lots of history, emotion, everyday life problems, good all round story.

After failing to conceive “naturally,” Nikki and Kyle Sebastian turned to the medical community for assistance with dismal results – no pregnancy, maxed out credit cards, a debt of $50,000-plus, and a stressed marriage. When the third round of in vitro fertilization fails, Kyle is ready to call it quits, much to the dismay of his wife who is desperate to be a mother. The resulting consequences of betrayal lead to the potential end of their once-happy, stable union. Additionally, a long-held secret threatens to further upend Nikki’s life.

The author addresses the topic of infertility with sensitivity and compassion, illuminating how the dream of having a family impacts a couple as well as their friends and family. While I empathize with the issue, I did not find Nikki to be a sympathetic protagonist. Perhaps it was the effect of multiple hormonal treatments, but her decision-making process seemed flawed and even selfish to the detriment of her marriage. I was appalled at her sister’s uncaring attitude in first foist off a puppy on Nikki who was in crisis and then reclaiming it at her own convenience months later.

Overall, this was an interesting novel that kept me engaged throughout the emotional turmoil of Nikki and Kyle’s relationship as they came to a resolution of their differences. One cautionary note: Because of the nature of the topic, it may trigger some readers who have experienced similar circumstances.

I have been given an amazing opportunity to give a review of 'All We Could Still Have' written by Diane Barnes. Trigger Warning: for those who experience infertility, miscarriage etc. The beginning shows how the relationship can hit a hard wall whilst experiencing a hard time, throughout the book I felt empathy for both. Until Kyle was in an affair which causes a massive impact on the relationship as he made another girl pregnant which upset Nikki as she was trying to get pregnant spending money on IVF. There was a little comedy there when Nikki was with her sister. Then the ENDING, one word, extraordinary! The twist within the family tree and the wholesome when the girl allows Nikki and Kyle to adopt the baby as she didn't want children. I love how the book demonstrates that even when the relationship goes through hard times, there can be happy endings. I could re-read this book over and over again if possible, and I kinda wish for a second book. Definitely purchase this book if you are considering.

Quick Read That Serves As A Good Look Into The Mind Of Some Childless People. I've struggled for nearly 10 days now to sit down and write out my thoughts on this book, and ultimately what I come down to is that this really is a really good look at how desperate some people are to have children - and the lengths they will go through to get them, up to and including risking everything else they claim to care about. As a sub-300 page book, it is also a relatively quick read, which helps because this is largely one dark and depressing tome (can a sub-300 page book be a 'tome'? this one certainly feels like it) that will have many readers wanting to throw it out the nearest window, even if reading it on your Kindle or other device. There is just enough light here to keep it from being *too* dark and depressing, but seriously, if you've ever been anywhere near these issues in your "real" life... this one hits all too close to home. And while I, as a male, have never been in our female lead's exact shoes - I've been near enough to her husband's, as we actively weighed IVF and the "modern miracle" horrors it wreaks on the female body in a desperate ploy to *maybe* get pregnant. In the end, my wife and I actively chose to become childfree - yes, there is a difference between childfree and childless, and this book actively shows it. Childfree is happy not having kids. Childless is always feeling a void/ like you've missed out on something, as our lead here does. Still, for those who have never reason to consider this particular path or its varying branches... this really is truly a strong look into that overall mindset, for all its benefits and pitfalls. Very much recommended.

This was an interesting read which explores the topic of infertility. The story may be very emotional to some. Well written.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Trigger warning: Infertility. This book was not what I expected. It was emotional and full of some many feelings I didn’t think I’d feel. It was well written and gives the reality of the struggle with IVF. The characters are relatable and has you hoping for the best for them. It also gave light to real things couples experience.

All We Could Still Have is the soon to be released novel by Diane Barnes. It is the tale of a happily married couple Nikki and Kyle Sebastian, their friends and family. There is only one thing this loving happily married couple lack – a child to complete their family. Unfortunately, they have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Eager for a child they go down the IVF route bearing several failed IVF rounds.

Barnes writing transforms an everyday tale of a new England family living in a small community into an exquisite story that kept me gripped from the word go. When repeated IVF fails they are forced to accept their childlessness. Barnes skilfully explores this couples feelings as they are confronted with this heart breaking issue. As the book drew me into the plot I realised how deeply she had explored the depths of the emotional and financial crisis in this couple’s life. They were after all happily married. Could IVF with its time tabling for sexual activity ruin their relationship? After all they could no longer afford to be spontaneous when undergoing IVF. Wouldn’t their loving relationship see them through this crisis.?

Kyle was adamant – he was not prepared to continue with the IVF. But what about Nikki? Barnes explores her feelings. Throughout the ages a barren woman was shamed and scorned by society. But this was the 21st century. Surely we were progressive these days and extended true love and sympathy towards those who suffered infertility. Was there also a difference in how society judged a woman as opposed to the man in the relationship? How could these issues affect a woman’s perspective regarding this issue? IVF is not cheap, yet Nikki seems prepared to sacrifice everything just for the chance to be a mother. Umm, these are everyday issues that Barnes raises in her novel. I had a lot of sympathy for Nikki and what she was expected to put up with. Was Kyle there with Nikki when she most needed his shoulder to lean on? Did he even realise that he was unwittingly judging her? Was he aware of her feelings? It almost felt like their happy healthy relationship had been superficial.

A once happily married couple stood on the brink of a break up. Yet shouldn’t their happily married and loving healthy relationship be the bulwark that would see them through their crisis. Barnes novel evokes these and many other questions which surge through my mind as the pages turn. I got the sense that bad things happen to good people, its life. Taking it too seriously and letting it ruin the good things one has is foolish. Often in a crisis we fail to see what we have before us and accept the joys that we already have. Is there any point in pining for what one can’t have? This is the premise of Barnes novel. Perspective plays a huge role in this character driven novel.

Nikki who is telling the tale often looks back on past instances of her life. Barnes weaves an exquisite tapestry of all her characters giving the reader an enchanting picture of small town life. There is more than one surprise in the novel. As the pages turn it finally ends in an HEA. Yay! Barnes and Nikki, Kyle and family.